GHRA statements on Amerindians spurious, erroneous
THE Ministry of Amerindian Affairs has described statements by the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) on Amerindian issues, and published in last Saturday’s issue of the Stabroek News as ‘ spurious, misleading and totally erroneous’. Following is the text of a statement from the Ministry on the GHRA utterances:
The Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, as the legitimate authority on the Amerindian demographic, so espoused in the Amerindian Act 2006, wishes to clarify, unambiguously, the untenable utterances of the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) reported on Page 19 of the Stabroek News, Saturday, May 12, 2012.
The contents of the paragraphs that deliberate on Amerindian issues are spurious, misleading and totally erroneous, making the GHRA an embodiment of fiction.  As mandated by law, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs must ensure that Amerindian development is mainstreamed and indiscriminatory, thereby enhancing the total uplift of our Amerindian people.  To do otherwise would be ethnically prejudicial, since our Amerindian peoples have been totally and systematically dehumanised by the then PNC-led government, prior to the 1992 national and regional elections.  Indeed, during the period of authoritarian rule in Guyana, the GHRA was in a state of dormancy and quietude, even though the people of Guyana, especially our Amerindian peoples, were being treated as lower-class citizens.
Today, in a free and just society, where Amerindian interests now reside at the top of the national development agenda, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs is duty-bound, legitimately, lawfully and constitutionally , to ensure that the rights and privileges of our indigenous peoples are not eroded, especially through the deliberate fancies of the combined opposition parties in Parliament and their anti-progressive appendages in the wider society.  It is especially for such reasons that the ministry has been engaging our Amerindian peoples to bring to their attention, the annihilating effects of the budget cuts caused upon them by the combined opposition APNU/AFC.
Our people must know that irrespective of the guile and theatrics of the APNU/AFC on the budget cuts, their lives and the lives of their future generations are at risk. The facts are clear and in the open.  Amerindian development was stumped by the opposition-led budget cuts.  The evidence is unequivocal and irrefutable, and fortunately, our people, now much more educated and uplifted, are aware of the implications of the budget cuts.  There is no justification and consequently, there is no excuse for the deliberate decimation of our indigenous peoples by the opposition APNU/AFC.
The ministry did inform our people that the opposition APNU/AFC, with a one-seat majority in Parliament, hoodwinked our Amerindian peoples and made the following cuts which were directly aimed at them:
1.      Presidential grants given to all Amerindian communities that facilitate economic and transformational projects determined by each village as their developmental priorities;
2.      Resources for land titling and demarcation of Amerindian lands that will ensure absolute ownership and tenure;
3.      Resources for the implementation of broad-based, longer-term Community Development Plans that focus on social, economic, infrastructural and environmental growth of respective villages, as required by the Amerindian Act 2006
4.      Resources for the Amerindian Development Fund that provide unique support to micro enterprises and livelihood initiatives of indigenous business people
5.      Resources for solar systems to provide cost effective, environmentally friendly electrification in Amerindian homes, allowing children to study even at night;
6.      Resources for the One Laptop Per Family project that would provide households with computers, free of cost and relevant training;
7.      Resources for the completion of the Fibre Optic Cable Project that would facilitate expansion of the ICT sector, bringing Guyana the type of internet connectivity needed to attract investment, enhance telecommunication and other ICT services, and create thousands of jobs and opportunities for young people, including Amerindian youth;
8.      Resources of the Poverty Fund from which Amerindian people get support during times of additional need, for example, natural disasters and health emergencies;
9.      Resources to fund the construction of the Amaila Hydroelectric Project that would have produced surplus electricity for the country at one third the current costs.
These are the cuts that directly affect Amerindian peoples and the country as a whole.  The implications of these cuts were brought to their attention through various forms of communication, including virtual media, village outreach, interpersonal contact, group discussions and organizational consultations, amongst others.  In reference to the Annai meeting, where new Toshaos were gathered for their formal handover from the previous councils, our CDO was present and even responded to the outrageous glib of Mr. Sydney Allicock, APNU parliamentarian, who was there after having lost his recent bid to be the Annai District Toshao.
The ministry does not become involved in random and selective communication with our people.  We believe strictly that our people must be provided with first-hand information to properly inform and guide them.  The ministry therefore wishes to freely inform the GHRA that its utterances, as reported by the Stabroek News’ article, are disingenuous and fallacious.  The ministry further calls on the GHRA to be an unbiased and non-partisan partner as we continue to enhance Amerindian development.  Moreover, the GHRA should be loud in its condemnation of the budget cuts, as they were malicious and deceitful, thereby costing thousands of jobs and the myriad of opportunities for the development of Guyana’s first peoples, especially  women and youth.
From all the outreaches conducted so far, our Amerindian peoples have made a clarion call that their rights and privileges must not be trampled upon, and that their freedom to live a just life must not be taken away by the opposition APNU/AFC.
As a rights-based body, albeit seemingly undemocratic and biased, the GHRA should be at the forefront championing the development of vulnerable peoples, rather than chanting the hymns of denial on the implications of the budget cuts.